Median price of newer homes fell between 2009 and 2011

The median U.S. home price in 2011 rose from 2009, but the median prices for newer homes shrank over the same period, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday. The median home price in the 2011 American Housing Survey came to $110,000, up 2.3 percent from 2009, when the median price for a home was $107,500, the U.S. Census Bureau said. But the median price for homes built in the four years prior to the survey came to $235,000, down 2.1 percent from the median prices for newer homes in 2009, which was $240,000.. The 2011 American Housing Survey profile contains extensive data on housing, including the age of homes and how much is spent on repairs. Among the findings in the 2011 survey, the median year a U.S. home was built was 1974, the bureau said. The survey found 50.4 percent of U.S. homes were heated with piped gas, while 35.3 percent used electricity. Nearly 73 percent of U.S. homes have centralized air conditioning and almost half (46.3 percent) have carbon monoxide detectors, the bureau said. The median mortgage in 2011 came to $1,015 and monthly expenses included median sums of $151 for property taxes, $121 for electricity and $58 for property insurance. "Analysts in government and business study the nation's housing very closely and the American Housing Survey yields a wealth of information that can be used by professionals in nearly every field for planning, decision-making, and market research," said Census Bureau assistant division chief for Housing Characteristics Arthur Cresce.